Heading to Mount Wilhelm

This weekend I will be traveling with Jeff, Susan, Jessica, Kristen, and some Papua New Guinea guys to Mount Wilhelm. Mt. Wilhelm is the highest mountain in PNG at 14,790 feet. When we flew to Madang we saw Mt. Wilhelm in the clouds above us. It was neat to think that, Lord willing, I will be climbing above where we were flying. The pic on the R is from Wikipedia, but that is our goal, the top. Our plan is to leave on Friday and hike part way to a base camp. Saturday, we will wake up early, like 0300, to start our ascent to the top and then return to base camp. On Sunday, we will hike back to the car and drive home.

MAF and Trusting God

On the trip to Madang, we flew in a plane operated by MAF, Mission Aviation Fellowship. I flew with Gail, Kristen, and Pam, and they said I could ride up front with the pilot. I thought it would be neat to see out the front of the plane, to have the view the pilot does, so I got inside. I quickly found out this wasn't such a good idea. I had a great view of all the instruments and gears, which I know nothing about, but that was it. I decided there must be a height requirement to be a pilot, or else short ones must sit on a book, because I couldn't see over the instrument panel. Thankfully, there was a side window, so I was able to see out and enjoy the view from the plane, but I let Kristen sit in the front on the way home.

I had started reading a book by Jerry Bridges, "Trusting God Even When Life Hurts," while we were at Madang. The books talks about God's Sovereignty over all things, the good and the bad, and how we need to trust Him in everything. The day we were to leave, I got to put into practice what I was reading. We were suppose to fly back to Kudjip on Tuesday, but that morning we had thunder and lightening, so our flight was delayed. They told us the flight may be cancelled, and we may not get home til Friday or Saturday. I knew I needed to go home, I was on call that night, and didn't think the other docs would appreciate me being out 3 more days. Did I trust God to work in this situation, did I really believe that if we got home on Tues, Fri, or Sat it would be okay? The answer was no, I prayed and asked God to help, but still struggled with the thought of not getting back til Friday or later.

We spent a lot of the day waiting and wondering what would happen. We got word the flight was on, so we got to the airport, excited about going home. We were waiting at the airport when they told us the flight wasn't going to happen. The plane had to go back to Hagen to refuel, but couldn't come to get us because the pilot had been in the air too long that day. We tried to tell the MAF folks in Madang we had to get back, I had to work, and Gail had to take care of her kids. They didn't sound too promising, but thankfully they radioed the folks in Hagen and explained our situation and they found another pilot who was able to come from Hagen and take us back. Thankfully we got back on Tues, but I know I still have a ways to go in Trusting God in all situations.

Cucumbers

Today I went out to work in the garden. Since I was at Madang, it has been a while since I was out there. I checked out my cucumbers and was surprised how big the plant was. I then saw a bunch of small cucumbers starting to grow. Hopefully soon I will be eating them.

Priscilla and Daren

I returned from Madang at 6pm on Tues and started my on call responsibilities as soon as I dropped off my bags and got to the hospital (great welcome home). One of the pts I saw that night was Priscilla who was brought in by family after delivering twins at home a day and a half ago. The story from the family wasn't real clear, but she had a seizure at home and in the ER. They said she had fever, abdominal pain, and headache. I was looking for any medical cause that could cause these things - here meningitis and malaria are something to consider on all pts with seizures, but she didn't have either of those. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I admitted her and kept trying to figure it out. I got a call that her BP was 180/120 and then knew she was having eclamptic seizures. I quickly put her on Magnesium and prayed for the best. The following day, she was still having seizures in the morning on rounds, and wasn't very responsive when I examined her. I talked to the family about her condition and explained how serious it was, and that sometimes people die from this. We prayed, but I really thought she might die. How surprised I was today to find her sitting up in bed (as above), smiling, talking normally, and answering all my questions - Praise God. One of her babies died, but the second one, which was a little bigger, is currently okay.



Daren is a kid that always brought a smile to my face everyday on rounds. He came to the hospital over a month ago with what was thought to be pneumonia. He ended up having a pleural effusion which required a chest tube, which turned out to be a chylothorax. It took a long time, and I wasn't sure if he would get better. I would often pray with his mom for his healing, and thankfully he got better. When I first started seeing him, he would cry as soon as he would see me. Over time, he quit crying. The day before he went home, I said hi to him and put out my hand to have him shake it (a common thing parents teach their kids to do here). He had a kaukau in both hands so he couldn't put his hand out to shake mine. Instead he moved his head closer to me to shake my hand - it was cute. Although I enjoyed seeing him everyday, I am thankful that he is now home with his family.

Looting of a Container

Today toward the end of PE (badminton) lots of men were running down the road toward the hydro plant and the road. I finally asked someone what was going on, they said a truck carrying a container was stopped so people were going to steal things. (This is right over the hill from the Dooley's house) After PE, I went to look and found lots of people on top of the containers and heard sounds of something hitting steel. I prayed for the driver of the vehicle and walked away. We got a storm in the afternoon, and I was praying that it would cause the people to stop, but apparently it didn't deter them. I went back down at 4:30pm (almost 3 hours later), and they were just finishing up and moving the vehicle to let all the cars which were stuck for 3 hours finally get going.

The story from Gail (and pics too), who heard it from others is as follows. The semitruck and another truck both got on the oneway bridge at the same time. The semi was backing up to let the other truck go, when folks rushed out and wouldn't let the truck go. A lot of guys started to climb on top of the containers to get the stuff inside. Apparently the driver of the semi, tried to back up and get away, but it didn't work. Some folks were on top of the container when he moved it, and fell pretty hard, one guy with at least one broken bone (he came to the hospital). They finally took the battery from the semi and the driver's keys and proceeded to chop through the steel container with hatchets (or something similar). Once through they then distributed all the goods to everyone standing around. I am not sure how things got divided and who got to decide who got what, but lots of folks were walking away with flour, paper, rice, etc. Another semi then towed away the first semi enough for the bridge to be clear and traffic to go again. There were police there, but they were unable the looting. Thankfully the driver wasn't hurt.

Thankfully this doesn't happen all the time, but it also isn't uncommon. Apparently the people have no problem taking things in this situation, or causing the problem to start with so they can benefit from it. It is sad. Please pray that God would convict these people, and that they would see the error in their ways. Pray also that the kids who saw this, wouldn't follow in their parents footsteps, but might have a different view of things as they get older.

God's Amazing Creation

Genesis 1:3-27 "And God said, ' Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. . . And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. . .' God called the expanse sky. . . And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters he called 'seas' . . . Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation. . . And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. . . And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' . . And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds. . .' Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. . .' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Finding Nemo comes to life

I just got back from Madang. Madang is a coastal town on the eastern coast of PNG that is a great place to go snorkeling and scuba diving. I went with Gail, Kristen, Pamela, Judy and Sam. We stayed at a place where you can just walk out of your room into the ocean and see amazing coral. I often thought I was in the movie Finding Nemo because we saw clown fish who live in sea anemones, Gil's, and other amazing creatures which God has made. I enjoyed seeing the blue starfish, lion fishes, and lots of other fishes. I was thankful not to see any sharks, but I did see one snake going in and out of the coral. I quickly stopped myself from going forward, and went in reverse very quickly. I can't even begin to put into words how beautiful it was, and sorry, but I have no actual underwater pictures to share with you. If you could think of the best pictures you have seen of underwater coral and fish, I probably saw it, or something close. Others say this is one of the best places to go snorkeling in the world.


Our days consisted of snorkeling, sleeping, swimming, Settlers, and eating. We went snorkeling at least once a day, if not more. 2 days we travelled out to the islands, Pig and Sinab, to enjoy the coral there. At times, we all had mask trouble with fog, leaks, or pain from how tight it was, but we still enjoyed ourselves. I did learn that taking out the plastic thing that fits inside the foot hole in the fins, to store them, makes snorkeling a lot easier on the feet. Sam, Kristen, and I enjoyed canoeing around the island across from our hotel. We got caught up in some rough water at times, but finally made it home. It was a great 5 days away from the hospital, and Lord willing I will get a chance to go back. If anyone is a snorkeler or scuba diver, I would highly recommend going there.

Locked In

Last night, after work, I decided to weedeat the garden. All of Bill's tools are in their shed behind the house. The shed has 2 doors which have a chain and padlock on them, the key to the padlock is inside the house. The shed connects to the McCoy's house, so when I go out to do work in the garden, I lock the door to their house behind me so no one steals anything.

So, I went out into the shed and pulled the door locked behind me. As soon as I pulled the door shut, I looked and saw the padlocked door in front of me. I realized I hadn't opened the padlock nor did I grab the keys to do so. I turned around to make sure the door behind me was locked - it was. I now found myself locked in the McCoy's shed. I started looking all around to see if maybe there was a way to get out - there wasn't. I checked the padlocks to see if they were really locked - they were. Then I started wondering what I was going to do. No one is around. The McCoys are obviously gone, the Riggins (who live across the way) are in Australia, and the Boyes (who live on the other side of the McCoys) are now in Canada. Pam lives 2 houses down from the McCoys, so I decided she was my best option. So what do I do, I scream her name. I am thinking, what are the chances that she is home, or that she will hear someone screaming her name, but I didn't have another choice, so I called for her. It was either that or start eating the green bananas and wait til someone came looking for me.

The national kids who live on the other side of the fence behind the McCoys heard me screaming. They kind of started to come closer, peeking their heads between the trees and over the fence wondering what was going on. When I saw this, I asked them to come closer. So they did, and I explained to the oldest boy that I was locked inside, and asked him if he could go and get Pam. I don't know if he even tried to get Pam (who wasn't home), but shortly thereafter his dad, Baru, came to the fence. Baru is part of our Hospital Management Team and works in the administration building. I explained to him what happened and asked if he could go through my house and let me in. He, kindly, jumped the fence and did just this and I was free. In case the McCoys were concerned, they no longer have to worry about anyone breaking in, or breaking out of their shed. I tried, and short of chain cutters I couldn't find a way out.

Lord of the Rings/Cave Adventure

During my Sunday night Bible Study with Kristen and Cassie ( 2 volunteer teachers) we were talking about Lord of the Rings, and found out that Cassie had never seen it. She also didn't know anything about it, so we decided we needed to watch it. So, this past weekend, we had a Lord of the Rings marathon at the McCoy's home theater. We watched the first 2 on Saturday, and the last one Sunday afternoon. Cilla and Jessica joined us for all of them, and Judy joined us for the 1st one. Jessica had never seen them either, but enjoyed them enjoyed laughing at Gimli and Merry and Pippin. It was a long 12 hours of watching (extended versions), but we all enjoyed them.

While us ladies were enjoying the movies, some of the guys took the time to go to the big bat cave. Earlier this year, I went to a cave with Bill, Sam, and Kevin (see the spelunking blog), but they went to a different cave this time. This cave is a large hole in the ground that went down about 150 ft. As far as I know, no one had been all the way down it before, but Scott Dooley, Sam Bennett, and Ben Kumor (visiting med student) wanted to go. They practiced using the harness and climbing gear in a tree at the Dooleys this week and set out early Saturday for the cave with John, a national who was guiding them there. They all got down okay and got to explore the cave, however they had some trouble on the way back up. Apparently, the ascending apparatus wasn't working correctly. It took Ben 1 hr 45 min to get up after he had to fix it on the way up. Scott got up okay, but Sam was the last to come up, and was unable to make it.

He was suspended about 15 feet from the ground, and the others tried to pull the rope and him up, but were unable to do so. Once again, we are thankful for Digicel. They called for help and Andy, Jeff, and some college of nursing students took off to go and help them. Unfortunately, it was getting dark, and it takes about 2 hours (20 minute drive, 1:30 walk) to get to where they were and they really didn't know where this cave was. We were all praying and the Lord answered our prayers. Sam stayed suspended for about 2 and a half hours in the dark cave by himself with lots of bats (see red eyes above). Thankfully, they weren't flying at him, but he did get some bat droppings on him. Once the extra help got there, they were able to pull him out in about 15 minutes. They, then, all walked back to the vechile and drove home. Thankfully, only a few minor scrapes and bruises, but no serious injuries occurred. Despite the fun that they had, Sam doesn't think he will go again. I don't think I will go ever.

Baby Erin/Brian

Baby Erin and her brother Samson were born about 6 months ago. Erin was the first PNG kid I got to name. She went home with her brother after she gained enough weight, but then came back into the hospital for a few days due to seizures when she was a couple months old. Everytime they would come the mom would always come and find me to have me see them. Well this past week Erin came back. Mom was concerned because she wasn't able to raise her head and it didn't seem like she was seeing well. I examined her and found mom's assessment accurate. Erin couldn't hold up her head, nor did she have great tone in her extremities. She also didn't seem to be seeing anything. She would move her eyes all around, but wouldn't focus on anything. I asked Dr. Susan to come in and examine her to see if there was something else going on, or if there was something that we could do for her. Unfortunately, there isn't. There aren't many resources in our country for handicapped folks of any kind. We did refer them to a rehab place close to us, but we aren't really sure if they will have anything to help her. Thankfully Samson appears to be fine (he is being held by an older sister in this picture). Please pray for Baby Erin and her family during this time. I am not sure how handicapped children are viewed in this culture, or what kind of support the family may get from others.

Update on Baby Brian. He successfully had surgery to place a diverting colostomy 1 day after admission. He is still recovering, and is fighting a small infection, but the colostomy is working. He is now breastfeeding without vomiting out his nose, and his abdomen is no longer distended. Praise God for His healing touch through Dr. Jim's hands.

Adventures in Gardening Part 5

After the pig destroyed some of the garden, I decided I needed to go out and try and fix it. (Keep in mind I have no idea what I am doing.) The gardens in PNG are all built up from the ground due to all the rain that we get. The pig seemed to like the edges of the plots, so a lot of the plots became level. So for the past 3 days, I have been out working. I set out with my shovel, weeder thingie, and rake to try and rebuild the plots. It was quite labor intensive, but I managed to rebuild them the best I could. Some were a lot easier than others, and I did have to sacrifice some tomato plants on one of the plots. After shoveling and moving the dirt around, they looked pretty bad, definitely not ready for planting. So I took the rotatiller to them. I need to weedeat, but the plots now look like they did before. Now, I need to figure out what to plant. I will probably try more cucumbers and watermelon. 2 of the cucumbers, that I planted before, are still growing, tragically one was lost in the pig damage. Some bugs are chewing their leaves, but I am still hopeful they make it. The one watermelon plant is still growing, it was the only thing left on it's plot, the rest the pig destroyed.

Bill often would grow things in little nursery boxes and then transplant them to the garden plots. Through email I asked him about this and he told me to use the soil in this black soil storage box behind the house. So today I decided I was going to get these boxes ready to plant on Saturday. I open the lid to this thing and find lots of small bugs crawling around and leaves and soil. I take a shovel to get some out and put it in the boxes, no big deal. However, one shovel full unveiled a large whitish/clearish insect of some sort with multiple legs. I have never seen one (of whatever this is) this big before. I decided I really didn't want that to eat up my seeds that I would be putting in the soil, so I put it back to play with it's friend which was also inside. I decided I didn't know what else was in this soil, but I didn't really want to find out, so I got soil from the compost pile that the pig had dug through, and will use this.

Wallace White's Memorial Service

On Saturday, we had a memorial service for Wallace White. Wallace was one of the first missionaries here to PNG with his wife Mona. They came in 1959 and did a lot of work in the Nazarene Church in PNG. He was the guy who had the idea to start the hospital, and raised funds for it. After that, they lived in Port Moresby and then in the islands where they started Nazarene churches. They were here for over 30 years.

The memorial service, although long, was quite inspirational. White Kintok, the head of our College of Nursing Program was named after Wallace White. He led the service. Different nationals got up and shared about the impact this man had on their lives. One guy from the Jimi Valley shared how his people didn't know anything about Jesus, but he came and they all started following Jesus. As a result, the people were changed, and still are today. He described Wallace as a "white skin with a black heart."

The missionaries got to sing his favorite song, How Great Thou Art in pidgin during the service. Some of you know I have no understanding of music, especially singing. I have no idea what a C sounds like or an A. They were going to have a practice session at 930 prior to going to the service. I was doing gardening work in the am, and didn't feel the practice would allow me to all of a sudden understand music, so I didn't go. I was also concerned that if I went it may make the others want me to sing with them even less. So I just stood up and sang with everyone when it was time. Thankfully me being off key was drowned out by everyone else singing correctly.

We caught a pig

This morning I walked out of the house to go to work and I looked in the garden, as I have been routinely doing now, for the pig. I didn't see him, so I headed out the gate. I noticed that Marsha's roses in the front of their house were destroyed by a pig, so I kept walking around their yard to inventory the damage. I decided to go all the way around the backside of the house to my side and I found the pig in the garden. Mike Chapman said he wanted a picture of the pig in the garden to have proof, so I got out my camera, which I almost always have with me and got a picture. Then, I went to call Mike to have him come catch it. He wasn't home, so I grabbed my weapons of choice - lemons and started walking toward the pig. The pig starts to run, so I throw my lemons, and I get him cornered in my front yard. The gate was shut so it couldn't get out, and wasn't smart enough to go around back. Silly me, I am telling it to go around back, then I remember Digicel. So I let him go back into the garden and I call Mike's digicel. Thankfully he answers, he was at the new hospital daily devotional. He said some police officers and security guards are coming up. I change out of my work clothes and grab by weapons and wait.

I see 4 guys walking through the Riggins lawn, Gabbe - who works in administration in his work clothes, a police officer with his bible, and 2 other guys. I tell myself, this can't be the folks who are going to catch the pig. But they don't normally walk up my way, so I ask them and they say yeah. Gabbe says that no security guard was around, so he came as the NHM representative with 2 Heduru (construction workers) and the police officer. They have nothing to catch a pig with and are asking me for rope or wire. Thankfully, Bill has some of this stuff, so I sacrificed some of his banana hanging rope for the good of the garden (sorry Bill).


I had never seen anyone catch a pig and wasn't sure how it was going to work. Pretty much they walked toward the pig and would try and get it to stop, or get it cornered. One time it was cornered at the front gate, but it escaped. It ran through the garden and they were chasing it, diving at times to grab a leg, it was quite funny. At one point, it escaped through the one hole in the fence that connects with someone else's garden. A little girl and another lady were working in the garden when it came over. They started to scream and then they chased it, but not back to us, so Gabbe went and helped them chase it back through the hole into Bill's garden.


Other than that hole in the fence, there is one other place the pig could escape from, that was around the back of the house. We don't have a fence there and it just connects with everything on station, this is how it got in. I found myself being the 2oth Maine at Gettysburg on the back of the house not allowing the pig to escape through the nongated area. I had my weapons and I wasn't afraid to throw them, but I was determined to hold the line. It did try to come back that way a few times and I just stood there and looked him down and he would turn away.



The pig finally got cornered against the fence and they were able to grab a leg and put a rope around it. Then the 2 ropes that were tied together broke, so it had a rope tied around it's leg and was running back through the garden. I had to go and sacrifice more of Bill's rope and brought it out to them. Just about this time Mike, Silas, and Joseph (2 security guys) show up with Mike's large rope. They tied up the pig and proceeded to walk him down to maintenance where he will live until it's owner comes to claim him and pay for the damage he has caused. Unfortunately, I found out that the owner only paid 20K for the pig. That is nothing, the effort of the 4 guys catching it was worth more than 20K. We shall see if he returns.

Baby Brian

I am on call this weekend. Compared to some weekends on call, this one has been relatively quiet. No CSections thus far, but I have had some phone calls and ER visits. I sewed up a lady's finger that had a large laceration, almost the whole length of her finger. She had a fx also, but I had to remove some of the bone to put it all together. I am not sure how much function she will have in it, we shall see. I also got to debride a child's burns on his arm - something I have not done before. She fell into a fire and had burns up her arm to her elbow. Thankfully, they weren't too infected so I am praying she does well. One of the last patients I saw today was a little kid, Immanuel, who was found head down in water, a near drowning victim. He was breathing on his own, moving all extremities, and responding to voice and pain, so I pray he does okay too.

Baby Brian was the most interesting case of the day. I was called that a child 3 days old was born at home in the village, and was vomiting and had abdominal distension. I assumed it was probably just sepsis in a newborn, so I gave some orders and headed down to check him out. When I got there the family reported that he hadn't been passing stool since he was born, but was urinating okay. I pulled back the blanket and found a very distended abdomen, very tight, with no bowel sounds. I saw him vomiting through his mouth and nose. He looked very sick.

When I saw him and his distension, he reminded me of a kid I had seen in Ghana when I was there as a medical student. This kid, on the R, had Hirschsprung's disease. Hirschsprungs is where the nerves going to the anus don't quite make it. So the muscles which help to pass stool don't work, and they get backed up as a result. It is kind of like they have no anus, because very little if anything comes out. We performed surgery on the kid in Ghana to relieve his obstruction and gave him a colostomy, which was suppose to be corrected months later.

On Brian, I finished checking the front of him and proceeded to the backside, where I discovered he didn't have an anal opening. He had some stool on the nappy, but just traces, so I thought maybe there was a small opening. I saw Jim was heading down to our English Lotu Potluck, so I went outside to discuss the case with him. Initially, he thought we might be able to cut a piece of skin that was obstructing the opening and dilate it, and do surgery later. However, after discovering that the stool was really coming from a fistula on the scrotum, and no other opening was found, he determined he would need to do surgery. One of the most challenging things was trying to put an IV in this little kid. 3 docs, 2 guys from OT, 1 nurse, and lots of prayers and we finally got it. Continue to pray for Brian in these next few days and for the Lord to give Dr. Jim wisdom in deciding who should do the surgery (him vs asking pediatric surgeon in Hagen to help), and to guide the hands of the one who performs it.

Digicel

These past few days have reminded me how thankful I am for Digicel. When Megan was here, the cell phones allowed us to communicate while she was in Moresby and I had to give her their new flight reservations. She had the McCoys phone, so I could talk to her. Digicel is the new cell phone company which has transformed PNG's communications. Digicel got to PNG before I did, but in these past 6 months here it has taken off. Previously, the main form of communication was through landlines, which often didn't work. Most villages didn't have phones and so folks couldn't communicate with others far away. Now everyone can have a phone and talk to friends and family. You don't have calling plans, but use prepaid calling cards to make calls. To call the US it is about 30 cents on nights and wkends, a lot cheaper that the old satellite phone that was a dollar or more each minute. Our station now has a Digicel tower built on it, which allows even more folks to use their service. The tower has also allowed me to use my phone in my house, because before I had to go outside to get service.

I am thankful for my phone which has allowed me to communicate with folks back home that I wouldn't otherwise. I was able to talk with my grandma almost every week while she was alive, whether it was in the hospital or at home I could call her. She didn't have a computer and the delays can be quite long, so the phone was the way to go. I have also been able to call Megan just to say hi at times. Digicel has also changed communication for the missionaries. Before we relied on radios in the vechiles to let people know our location. We still use the radios, but now we can call someone while in town to let them know where we are, or when we will be home, or folks can call us to pick something up.

It seems like almost everyone now has a cell phone and they use it a lot. When I walk home after work, I often pts out on the lawn talking to someone, and see a couple College of Nursing students outside their dorm on the phone. It isn't uncommon for a pt's phone to go off when I am seeing them, or for them to be talking on the phone waiting to be seen, which is like in the states. If it doesn't go off, then it is hanging around their neck, or in their bilum. We aren't suppose to use our phone while working, but at times folks still do (I asked Rachel to pose for this picture). Having the phone go off during chapel is not a good thing.

Adventures in Gardening part 4

Since Megan, Joe, and Luke are now safely back in the US, I thought I should go out and check on the garden again. The first thing I saw was that something had been in the garden, digging. I found hoof prints around the garden and deemed it was a pig. Thankfully it seemed to mostly just go after the areas where nothing was really growing. It dug up the cabbage that the bugs had destroyed, and the plot where the beans were just dying. It did get around a berry bush, but I think the bush will survive. I was not happy when I saw the destruction as I know there isn't much that can be done.

In PNG, pigs are wealth. They roam freely, but everyone knows which ones are theirs. If you would accidentally hurt a pig, or hit it with a car, or kill it because it is destructive, you will find yourself paying compensation to the owner of the pig. However, good luck trying to get compensation from them for the destruction the pigs do. The Riggins had some pig problems in their yard and the only way to solve it was to put a fence around their yard. Maybe the pig will just go away on its own, we shall see.

I did find some very large beans that are growing. This one was as big as my shoe. The bean plant was too heavy for the bamboo post, and it had fallen on the ground. Too bad I don't really care for beans. Thankfully the pig didn't get to my 3 cucumbers, and one watermelon which is still growing. We shall see how they hold up against the bugs.